a1_The infraspecific taxonomy of the European populations of the Large Blue (Maculinea arion) is confusing. Several subspecies have been described mostly based on external morphological features. In the Carpathian Basin two subspecies have been distinguished. Maculinea arion arion flies from mid-May to mid-June and Maculinea arion ligurica is on the wing from the end of June to mid-August. The two forms show some differentiation in habitat use, but occasionally can also share habitats with two peaks in the appearance of butterflies. Our aim was to study the level and structure of genetic variation in a set of populations of the two phenologically different M. arion. Imagos were collected from 8 localities between 2000 and 2006. Enzyme polymorphism was analysed at 13 enzyme loci using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. In the analysis of the data, we estimated the parameters of polymorphism. To study the pattern of genetic differentiation F-statistics, hierarchical F-statistics and AMOVA were computed. GeneClass and Structure were both applied to analyse the differentiation between the two phenologically different sets of populations. Cavalli-Sforza and Edwards' arc distances were calculated and a UPGMA dendrogram was constructed on the basis of the distance matrix. PCA analysis was also carried out using the allele frequencies of the individuals. The level of polymorphism was relatively high in M. arion. The results of all analyses indicated that the differences between the two sets of phenologically different populations accounted for a low percentage of the total differentiation. In addition, a sizeable amount of variation could be attributed to the differences among the samples collected from the same population in consecutive years. Thus, we concluded that the "spring" and "summer arion" could not be considered as separate ESUs, although we could attribute conservation value to both forms on the basis of, a2_their phenological differentiation and habitat use., and Judit Bereczki, János P. Tóth, Andrea Tóth, Edit Bátori, Katalin Pecsenye, Zoltán Varga.
Operophthera brumata Linnaeus, 1758). Our calculations are based on data collected by the Hungarian Forestry Light Trap Network at four sites from 1961 to 2008. We also tried to estimate the influence of polarized moonlight and collecting distance, which also depends on moonlight. Our investigations revealed that the catches were the greatest in the First and the Last Quarters, and the lowest at Full Moon. The reason for this is that the proportion of polarized moonlight in the different lunar quarters varies, with the catches highest when the proportion is greatest. Collecting distance has only a minor role. and Obsahuje seznam literatury
1_The ladybird beetle Harmonia axyridis (Pallas 1773) has been used for biological control in several countries. However, it became invasive in some of those countries. Coccinella septempunctata (Linné 1758) is a native species in Europe. It feeds mainly on aphids and can be very abundant. As far as is known there are no effective natural enemies of the grape phylloxera Daktulosphaira vitifoliae (Fitch 1855) in Europe. The potential of the above two ladybird species for reducing the abundance of the grapevine pest D. vitifoliae has not been previously investigated. In this study, the consumption and developmental parameters of H. axyridis and C. septempunctata fed on D. vitifoliae were determined in the laboratory. In a field trial, the occurrence of H. axyridis on grapevines with or without leaf galls of D. vitifoliae was compared. In contrast to C. septempunctata, H. axyridis was able to complete its development using D. vitifoliae as a source of food. In addition, adult H. axyridis consumed significantly more D. vitifoliae eggs than C. septempunctata. Within 24 h H. axyridis consumed up to 1400 eggs of D. vitifoliae. However, based on the fitness parameters "developmental time", percentage "survival" and "adult weight", this diet was less suitable for H. axyridis than the eggs of Ephestia kuehniella., 2_During field observations over a period of two years H. axyridis was repeatedly observed feeding on grape phylloxera leaf galls, which indicates that H. axyridis uses grape phylloxera as prey. H. axyridis was significantly more abundant on leaves with leaf galls of D. vitifoliae than on leaves without galls. C. septempunctata was rarely found on grape leaves with or without leaf galls. These results indicate that overall H. axyridis, unlike C. septempunctata, is a predator of D. vitifoliae and could potentially reduce grape phylloxera numbers in vineyards., Susanne Kögel, Manuela Schieler, Christoph Hoffmann., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella is a widespread pest of stored products and a classical object in experimental biology. In the present study, we determined its complete mitochondrial genome sequence. The genome is circular, consists of 15,327 bp and comprises 13 protein-coding, 2 rRNA- and 22 tRNA-coding genes in an order typical for the Ditrysia clade of the order Lepidoptera. A phylogenetic study of the Lepidoptera based on complete mitochondrial genomes places E. kuehniella correctly in the family Pyralidae and supports major lepidopteran taxa as phylogenetic clades. The W chromosome of E. kuehniella is an exceptionally rich reservoir of originally mitochondrial sequences (numts). Around 0.7% of the W DNA was found to be of mitochondrial origin, 83% of the mitogenome sequence was represented between 1-11 × in the W chromosome. Phylogenetic analysis further revealed that these numts are an evolutionary recent acquisition of the W chromosome., Katrin Lämmermann, Heiko Vogel, Walther Traut., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Specific associations between species frequently occur in ecological interactions. The aim of this study was to determine the preferences of anthomyiid flies of the genus Botanophila for particular species of fungi as sites for laying eggs and as food for both larvae and adults. The associations of their eggs, larvae and flies with the stromata of different species of Epichloë fungi infecting 7 species of grass in Poland were analyzed. Scanning electron microscopy of the surface of their eggs and an analysis of the genetic sequences of their mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase (COII) were used to identify the taxa of the flies studied. Three types of eggs were distinguished based on their shape, colour and the presence of dorsal folds and sculpturing on the shells. Tentatively, these eggs were assigned to the following species: B. laterella, B. phrenione, B. dissecta and B. lobata. COII sequences obtained from larvae that hatched from two of the types of eggs formed three distinct clades associated with the reference sequences for Botanophila phrenione, B. lobata (new to the fauna of Poland) and a putative species, “Taxon 1”. Only one of these flies (B. lobata) was restricted to a single species of Epichloë (E. bromicola on Elymus repens); B. phrenione was recorded mainly from E. typhina infecting three different species of grass. The results of this study confirm that there is not a close species specific association between this fungus and this insect., Marlena Lembicz ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
A short-winged morph, whose occurrence is controlled by a simple recessive Mendelian unit, was recently discovered in Locusta migratoria. The existence of trade-offs between flight capability associated with wing length and other fitness-related traits are often documented for insects. The present study investigated the evolutionary significance of the short-winged and long-winged morphs of this locust using two laboratory strains showing wing dimorphism. The life-history traits examined included nymphal development, adult body weight, percentage adult survival, age at first reproduction, egg production and hatchling body weight. The results indicate that there are no consistent morph-specific differences in any of these traits. Of the several possibilities considered, the most likely is that the short-winged morph of this locust is an aberration or represents an initial stage in the evolution of this species., Yudai Nishide, Seiji Tanaka., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
At the south western border of its extensive distribution, the multivoltine large white butterfly, Pieris brassicae L., is exceptional in undergoing summer diapause or aestivation. In all other regions investigated, P. brassicae pupae only hibernate. The transitional zone from non-aestivating to aestivating populations is a geographically stable region south of the Pyrenees. The restriction of this response to this region cannot be accounted for in terms of genetics as aestivation is intermediately inherited, with the heritability (h2) of aestivation in inbreeding lines between 0.35 and 0.77. Two hypotheses are presented to explain why this species does not aestivate in more northern regions. First, aestivation is a behaviour that serves to synchronize generations in areas where this species produces a high number of generations per year. Second, aestivation reduces the incidence of parasitism suffered by the butterfly by desynchronizing its life cycle from that of its main parasitoid, Cotesia glomerata. The two hypotheses are not mutually exclusive and both seem to be adaptive where the species is multivoltine. and Hubert R. Spieth, Ulrich Pörschmann, Carola Teiwes.
a1_This study describes the parasitoid species complex associated with seven closely related species of sexual (Siederia rupicollella, S. listerella, Dahlica lazuri, D. charlottae and D. lichenella) and parthenogenetic (Dahlica fennicella and D. triquetrella) Naryciinae (Lepidoptera: Psychidae) in Central Finland. A thorough ecological analysis of all the species of parasitoids recorded was combined with analyses of molecular data. Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA data were obtained from all the species in order to (1) detect cryptic species associated with host specialization, (2) assign undescribed males to females, and (3) verify the morphological identification of closely related species. A DNA barcoding technique was employed to identify host species from parasitized larval remains. By sampling more than 10,000 host larvae, of which 25.7% were parasitized, nine parasitoid species were identified morphologically, including both koinobionts (Ichneumonidae: Diadegma incompletum, Macrus parvulus, Trachyarus borealis, T. solyanikovi, T. fuscipes, T. brevipennis and Braconidae: Meteorus affinis) and idiobionts (Ichneumonidae: Orthizema flavicorne, Gelis fuscicornis). Ecological characteristics such as time and mode of host attack, time of emergence and level of specialization differed widely. The results show that differences in parasitoid biology need to be taken into account when studying differences in percentage parasitism of sexual and parthenogenetic Naryciinae. The molecular data revealed that one parasitoid species M. parvulus may consist of two cryptic forms associated with the sexual and parthenogenetic hosts, respectively. The data further establishes that T. brevipennis and some T. fuscipes are in fact morphotypes of one species. The large variation in mitochondrial DNA within species and its inconsistency with nuclear DNA demonstrate that current species and genus delimitation is inadequate in the, a2_Trachyarus species group. Our study shows that it is essential to use DNA barcoding methods when investigating host-parasitoid complexes., and Jelmer A. Elzinga, Kees Zwakhals, Johanna Mappes, Alessandro Grapputo.
The Chinese white pine beetle, Dendroctonus armandi Tsai and Li is a native species of bark beetle and one of the most destructive in much of western China. Little is known about the characterization of the pheromones trans-verbenol and verbenone, and their functions in D. armandi are unknown. Electroantennogram tests (EAG) and olfactory assays (Y-tube assays) in the laboratory revealed that (1) trans-verbenol may be an anti-aggregation pheromone for male and an aggregation pheromone for female D. armandi and (2) female beetles are more attracted to controls (hexane) than low concentrations of verbenone and male beetles more attracted to controls than high concentrations of verbenone. Field trials indicated that the addition of verbenone to bait used to trap D. armandi remarkably decreased the efficiency of field trapping. These results indicate that verbenone is an anti-aggregation pheromone for male D. armandi. This research provides evidence of the role of verbenone among the different types of pheromones. The pheromone verbenone clearly could be used to protect healthy Chinese white pines., Mingzhen Zhao, Lulu Dai, Yaya Sun, Danyang Fu, Hui Chen., and Obsahuje bibliografii